The Knights of Avalar
by Vinely26
Summary: With the realm in a state of unrest after the events of Spyro 2, Elora calls a council to Autumn Plains to decide a wise course of action. As acting steward of Avalar, she knights a chosen individual to establish, what Elora hopes will be, a Great Era of Peace for their homeland. This fic will involve a lot of political intrigue plus some critical examinations of Spyro worlds.
1. Chapter 1

PILOT / PROLOGUE

Elora watched sadly as Spyro, after defeating Ripto, hopped into the Dragon Shores portal. A sigh escaped her usually cheery demeanor. It was hard seeing her winged hero leave so soon. Even though the evil invading their land had been vanquished, it was always destined to be that their little purple friend would go back to his normal life after all was said and done. With that being said, she had a lot of work to do if Avalar was going to get back to its former glory, and she'd need a bit more help than just Hunter…

She called a council of all the leaders in the realm to begin the healing of their shared land, but not all of them attended. In fact, very few did so. Even with their savior Spyro's progress in fixing many of Avalar's problems, more had cropped up in their wake. The Breezebuilders continued their ongoing war with the Land Blubbers, a workers rebellion had broken out with the Robotica Farmers against the upper class in Metropolis, and a new oppressive regime arose in Scorch due to the failed resistance from Handel and Greta. Needless to say, there were a good few issues that sorely required to be dealt with. Elora's headaches grew worse day to day, not knowing how to make sense of it all. Meanwhile, Spyro had been called away to some place one the other side of the globe. Even with the help of the Professor and Hunter, it didn't seem like there was even any use in trying to govern these lunatics. Diplomacy was failing her, and she had nowhere else to turn…

It's notable that there were a few… well… one party that attended the council she called. Regardless of the low turnout, she'd find a way to make use of any aid she could muster. Of course, it was her own kind. Hailing from the Magma Cone, her cousin Brodie the Faun arrived in Autumn Plains. Elora rushed to the castle gates to meet him.

"Oh! Thank goodness you came! I was beginning to think that nobody was going to make it!" Elora exclaimed. Brodie stood outside the unattended gates awkwardly. He didn't expect to be the only one here; in fact, he'd drawn the short straw of all his brothers and sisters, and was forced to attend Elora's boring meeting.

"No problem…" He replied, scuffing his hoof against the dirt to break the silence. "What's this about?" She sheepishly grinned.

"Let's talk inside." She stated, leading the way into the large ancient structure. Straddling the wall of the wide corridor, Brodie noticed some dirty prints lining the floors. They seemed like hand prints, but those of a creature with four legs on the ground. Obviously this four-legged creature had been tracking in mud from outside several times over, as the sheer amount of prints was enormous.

"Don't you have people to clean this stuff up? Isn't this the capital?" Brodie pointed out. His statement startled Elora from her deep thought.

"Hm? Oh, no, actually I'm here alone." She told him. "Besides, I wouldn't want to clean them up just yet… I like them." Brodie furrowed his brow in confusion, but shrugged it off.

"Whatever I guess." He said. He followed her into the conference room, and sat down at a long wooden table. Elora herself sat at the head of the table, while Brodie sat in the chair marked 'Magma Cone Region Representative' in hasty pencil scribblings. While sitting down, he placed a hand on the table, only to quickly remove it from the amount of dust settled on it. He scrunched his face in disgust. Ultimately he just wiped it on his shirt, and looked in his cousin's direction in preparation for her to speak. She withdrew her notes from her vest and cleared her throat loudly.

"Our realm is in a state of turmoil!" She read from the page. "Only a martial force can subdue our belligerent citizens!" She flipped the page nervously. "I ask that each of you donate a skilled warrior to join a central order to keep peace between the regions!" Elora breathed out, and took a deep breath in. Brodie rolled his eyes. "And this central order shall be named: 'The Knights of Avalar'!" The entire chamber, housing only the two fauns, echoed with the forcibly deep voice of his cousin. There was a dry pause before she continued. Brodie distinctly read her lips silently mouthing 'stop for applause'. At first, he did nothing. After the quiet had droaned on for quite long enough half a minute later, he gave in to the urge to oblige her. A slow tempo of claps started and ended within a few seconds, bringing a smile to Elora's face. :The council may now grace us with their comments!"

"So you want someone from Magma Cone to help fight for you? And do what exactly?" Brodie asked. Elora scratched her head, and sifted through her notes.

"Actually… Because my time tables are so cramped, and, as I said in my address, the realm is in turmoil, so…" She trailed off a bit. "Basically, since you're it, I need you to do a few things for me." He was shocked.

"Me?" Brodie asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, I think our most pressing matter is the war between the Breezebuilders and the L-" She was interrupted.

"No, I can't do that! Whatever you're asking me to do… I'm not a fighter." Brodie tried to get out of her request, but she just wasn't having it.

"You're Avalar's only hope right now! Someone has to be here in the capital to at least have it look like things are working to some degree around here…" Elora explained. "Besides, when the Professor makes his way back to us he'll cook up something real nice to help you survive on future missions. For right now, though, you need to get your butt in a portal before too many war crimes happen!" Brodie broke out into a cold sweat.

"Wha… What? Where am I going?" He asked, unsure if he'd be alive to see tomorrow at this point. Elora grabbed his hand, and marched him out of the conference room. Out into the yard, and up the spire to the portal she needed to send him into.

"You're going to Zephyr, I think you might have a few minutes before the Breezebuilders' fleet arrives." She said nonchalantly.

"Their FLEET?!" He questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah yeah… Oh, I almost forgot." Elora said, pushing down on Brodie's shoulders, forcing him to kneel. She grabbed a pencil out from behind her ear, and dubbed him quickly. "I pronounce you, a Knight of Avalar, good luck out there, Brady." She said, pushing him into the portal.

"Brady? That's not my nam- AHHHH!"

To Be Continued…

AUTHOR'S NOTE

If anyone would like to see this go on, let me know. I was just finishing Spyro 2 in the Reignited Trilogy when I had this idea, and I hope someone can get a kick out of this concept like I do. Feedback would be appreciated, but I'll make more of this if I get inspiration to do so. Encouragement always helps, so to see this developed, feel free to leave a review with your thoughts. Have a nice day!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 / BATTLE OF ZEPHYR

Brodie fell into the void. He kicked his feet and flailed his arms, but there was nothing he could do to slow his descent. Being a faun didn't have as many aerial perks as it did grounded ones. The wind whipped by his face, and fear swelled violently in his chest. Below him, he saw another portal floating in the sky. He stuck out his legs rigidly, preparing to make the landing. Brodie shot through the air, whizzing towards the portal. In a split second, he disappeared from the empty space, and was jolted into a new world on the other side.

He was left heaving, sitting in a patch of verdant grass. The sky was blue, nearly without a cloud in sight. After such a bumpy ride to Zephyr, it was actually more peaceful than he imagined. It definitely didn't seem like the type of place where a war was raging. The faun heard a soft yet consistent sound coming from a ways in front of him. He stood still, unsure of what was approaching. Slowly, creatures appeared on the horizon. Brodie used his hand as a shield to get a better look at the line of noisy beings coming at him. Upon further inspection, he surmised that the beings in question was a group of Land Blubbers. Confusion struck him. Were they on their way to meet him? It wasn't as if his arrival was telegraphed…

As Brodie lowered his hand from his forehead, a chill overtook his body. Soon, he realized that the warmth of the sun had disappeared. Not only was the heat nowhere to be found, but the light, too, had vanished. But there hadn't been a cloud in the sky last time he looked… It was only then did he realize what was truly going on when Brodie turned around. A huge Breezebuilder Airship was looming behind him. His heart fell into his stomach. He couldn't even bring himself to move out of the way. He was frozen before the massive display of power. As an insult to injury, the portal he came through dematerialized before his eyes.

The group of Land Blubbers, most likely a defense force against the airship, quickly approached behind him. The Breezebuilder ship's deck guns took aim. The army swiftly engulfed the faun, all of the Blubbers going around him rather than trampling him with their squishy undersides. Most of the soldiers were outfitted in types of machine guns and hard helmets, but there was one outlier. A single, albeit small Blubber, was armed to the teeth with grenades, ammo sashes, and he was dual-wielding a grenade launcher and bazooka. The small Blubber stood alongside Brodie, and yelled above the commotion of his comrades.

"Wot in tarnation are ya doin', private! Git a move on befer ya git yerself got!" The Blubber ordered. Without another word, he aimed his bazooka at the Breezebuilder ship, and fired a rocket into the hull. A great boom sounded when it made contact, making a small hole in the ship's exterior. Meanwhile, the deck guns fired mercilessly at the Blubber army. Brodie watched in awe as the small Blubber continued to let off copious amounts of rockets and grenades into the ship. The deep whirring of the airship's steam engines began to slow, and it started to speed towards the ground… directly at Brodie. His eyes widened, once again frozen from fear. All the Blubbers cleared out of the way, except those that had fallen in battle. The faun was all alone.

Out of nowhere, the small Blubber jumped at Brodie, knocking them both out of the way before the ship hit the ground, sending a potent shockwave into the surrounding earth. Brodie and the Blubber were knocked far away next to a nearby hill. The Blubber bounced back up to his feet immediately, but the supposed 'Knight of Avalar' was quite woozy from the mini earthquake.

"Private! You coulda gotten got out there! Whaddaya doin'?" He asked the dazed faun, who was just getting back on his hooves.

"Ughh… What?" Brodie muttered, his hand on his head trying to see the world upright again.

"I don't recognamize you… Never seen you 'round these ranks befer… You gotta be werkin' wit the enemy!" The Blubber pointed his grenade launcher at Brodie, who instantly put his hands up.

"Huh? No! You've got it all wrong!" The faun pleaded. The Blubber squinted at him, deciding whether or not to believe this interloper. Before he could figure out his course of action, however, the ship they shot down burst open to reveal a legion of little yellow Breezebuilders, all ready to rush the Blubber army. The small Blubber jumped into action, firing off grenades in their general direction. He eyed the faun, looking him up and down. Suddenly, without any hesitation, he tossed Brodie a machine gun he had strapped on his back along with an ammo sash.

"If yer no enemy to the Zephyr Republic, then prove yer werth, Private!" He commanded, lining up his sights on the advancing line of evil chicks. "Oh, and, the name's Corporal Kug. Don't go wearin' it out!" The Corporal rushed into battle, launching grenades and popping off rockets like nobody's darn business.

Brodie had never held a gun before. It was a strange and new experience to him. He threw the sash around his shoulder, and aimed at the Breezebuilders. He pulled the trigger, but the bullets wouldn't come out. Puzzled, he took a look down the barrel to assess the problem. Kug noticed him from across the field, and was appalled.

"Wot're you doin'!?" He shouted angrily. "Hit the safety!" Brodie inspected the rifle, and found a button that said 'Safety', and pushed it in. Finally, he chose a target, and pulled the trigger. The recoil was a bit much for him, so he wasn't able to aim properly. Regardless, he hit a good few Breezebuilders on account of the fact that they were virtually spilling out of the opened airship hull. However, the gun got away from him, and the tiresome ratta-tat-tat of the bullets flying out made its way to Corporal Kug. Whom of which didn't get shot by Brodie, but he wasn't pleased in the slightest. Brodie dropped the gun as soon as he saw where he was shooting. Part of the problem, in truth, was due to him closing his eyes to spray the barrage.

"Private! Don't make me come over there!" He threatened, mindlessly spewing out a few more explosives. Soon, most of the Breezebuilders were gone. Sadly, also many of the Blubber army had fallen to their enemies. The few that remained limped back to the direction they came from, hopefully back to civilization. That's where Brodie wanted to go. He walked over to Kug, who seemed uncharacteristically glum.

"We really showed them, huh?" The faun cheered. "What're you upset about? We won!" The small Blubber shook his head somberly, letting out a sigh.

"Private, we're nowhere near to winnin'. That there was only their vanguard ship… I didn't expect them to take out so many of us wit that first wave…" He told him. Brodie turned to see the remainder of the Breezbuilder Fleet, and his jaw dropped in terror.

LATER

Brodie had followed Corporal Kug back to a nearby town, barely outrunning their pursuers. For now, however, they were safe inside a hut with the survivors from the battle. While the other Blubbers were licking their wounds, Corporal Kug reloaded his weapons, occasionally looking at the faun.

"So." He started. "Wot're you suppos'd to be?" Brodie narrowed his brow, somewhat offended.

"Um… I'm a faun? Isn't that obvious?" He clarified. Kug showed no recognamization.

"Ob-vee-uss?" The Corporal tried to sound out the foreign word that, somehow, wasn't even the type of creature Brodie is: effectively negating the original point of their conversation. The door to their hut burst open, and Kug shot up from his seat to point his bazooka at their surprise visitor. It turned out to be another Land Blubber, who immediately threw his hands up.

"Sir! Don't shoot!" The Blubber pleaded. Kug lowered his gun, and took a good look at his frightened brother in arms. He was covered in gun smoke, and was all bruised and bloodied. It was clear he needed to see a doctor.

"Report." Kug ordered. Brodie sat and watched quietly, pitying the hurting soldier.

"I'm a private, I was assigned to Colonel Glug's battalion, we were to distract the Breezebuilder fleet, sir." The low-ranking Blubber said, saluting his superior. Kug squinted his eyes, trying to make sense of it all.

"Where's the rest o' the battalion?" Kug questioned. The private's eyes slumped to the floor.

"I'm it." He sadly admitted. "And the fleet is on their way here now…"

There was no mistaking it: this was a mess. Both Kug, and even the uninitiated Brodie, understood this. There were only two options in a situation like this. _Fight_, likely to the death… Or _flight._ Kug grabbed his munitions, and headed for the door. He'd already made his choice.

"Wait… What are you doing?" Brodie asked, fearing the worst. Kug stepped out of the hut, ignoring him. Brodie, afraid of the small Blubber doing something foolish, quickly followed him out, leaving the wounded private with the injured from the previous battle. The faun skipped after Kug. "Hey! I said wait… uh…" He was stopped in his tracks from the shock of what he saw lining the skies. An endless sea of Breezebuilder ships advanced ever so slowly towards them, likely to bomb the Blubbers to oblivion. Standing alone against them was none other than the Corporal.

"Find yer way back to where-e'er ye came from, private. War's a man's place. None of this fairytale crap." Kug said, mapping out where he'd start his one-man offensive. Brodie, terrified at the situation, looked at his newfound friend, and then at the fleet, then back at his friend. He couldn't just leave him there. Not so long ago, this Blubber had saved his life.

"So what? You're just going to kill yourself?" Brodie crudely put it. Kug was taken aback, and turned his head around. "This is a waste of time. Do you really think this will stop the Breezebuilders? All this is gonna do is get you killed."

"It's the noble thing to do." Kug defended. The faun shook his head.

"It's the stupid thing to do." Brodie corrected. The small Blubber started to get mad.

"Ye don't know the ferst thing about war, private! It's fer men and heroes! Not you and yer 'ob-vee-uss' friends back home!" He yelled, turning his full body to the faun.

"Oh yeah? So it makes you a hero if you let these thousand ships blow you to bits? Who are you saving? Why would you do this?" Kug started to second guess himself, doing a double take at the enormous fleet.

"If I don't… Zephyr's lost..." He said, softening his tone. Brodie stopped, and walked over to Kug.

"It's already lost, but _you_ can live to fight another day." He told him, Kug's demeanor perking up when Brodie mentioned fighting.

"Another day?" He asked. The knight nodded.

"Zephyr might fall today, but as long as you're alive to fight the good fight: there's always a chance it can be salvaged." Brodie said, finally convincing the stubborn Blubber. Kug quickly shifted gears into military mode.

"I sher as all gatout ain't gonna be the only one left alive. Go evacuate the other Land Blubbers! There's a portal in the middle of town!" Kug commanded, running off. "I'll meet ye there!" Brodie smirked, and ran back into the hut to gather all of the injured soldiers, women, and children. With the Blubbers in tow, he lead them all to the portal in the middle of town. He set the gateway to 'Autumn Plains', and everyone filed into the opening. Kug, after delaying some of the fleet from coming nearer, followed through the portal. They all shortly arrived in the capital of Avalar, and Brodie had saved dozens of lives from the Breezebuilders' conquest of Zephyr. Standing in the hall nearby was Elora, clad in her pajamas with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"Oh!" Her voice was muffled by toothpaste, but out of embarrassment, she removed the brush. "I wasn't expecting company…"

"We need to talk." Brodie sternly informed. She frowned, and shook her head.

"Oh well… this was going to be my first off day since before Ripto… but whatever…" Elora mumbled to herself before motioning for Brodie to follow her into the conference room.


End file.
